


syzygy

by rubyroth



Series: The Future Belongs to Us [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Far Future AU, Post-Canon, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 21:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5020639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyroth/pseuds/rubyroth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny Lawrence of the United Sol Police is tasked with apprehending the notorious thief only known as Karnstein. Simple, right? Except Karnstein keeps flirting with her, a dangerously cute news blogger keeps pressing for an interview, and her dreams keep getting weirder and weirder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	syzygy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookcat/gifts).



The Countess Elizabeth, a Leo-class cruise linear, leisurely floated through the void of space en route to Mars. After almost two weeks of travel, it was mere hours away from the Phobos space station. Inside, passengers flittered about, most choosing to congregate in the grand ballroom. Serving staff in crisp, black suits carried tray upon tray of expensive wine and elegantly arranged hors-d'oeuvres while the passengers chatted and danced to classical music without a care in the world.

Meanwhile, the bridge was chaos.

“Captain! We've lost contact with our escort,” an officer shouted over the wailing alarms.

“Captain Lyon, the Cait Sidhe just appeared on our radar an is approaching from the topside!”

“Fuck _—_!” The main screen flickered off, only to turn back on with a timer counting down the minutes until midnight, UTC. “She's in our systems,” the sysadmin finished with a sigh.

The crew looked to Captain Lyon. Captain Lyon looked to towering young woman standing to their left. “Officer Lawrence?”

Officer Danny Lawrence smoothed the lapel of her uniform while she bit her lip. Sure, she was the member of the United Sol Police assigned to the case and the only expert on Karnstein's tactics, but Captain Lyon was at least a decade her senior. Giving orders in their place still felt like a serious breech of protocol. “Is the Cait Sidhe trying to board?”

“She's leveled out her flight path to remain parallel with us, but she isn't moving toward the docking port.”

Shit, Karnstein must already be on the Countess Elizabeth. She took a deep breathe and relaxed her shoulders. “I'm going to the ballroom, as I suspect Karnstein is going to appear there. Everyone, watch the video feeds. If you see anything suspicious, ping me. Diana and Yue, Captain Lyon said you're the fastest and strongest members of the crew, so you'll come with. Got it?”

“Yes ma'am!”

As Danny, Diana, and Yue briskly walked to the bridge doors, Danny took a quick glance at the countdown. Seven minutes until midnight. They could do this.

* * *

Carmilla Karnstein had begun her reign of thievery across the solar system nearly a year ago, snatching priceless artifacts, jewelry and other items from museums, private collectors, and hapless everyday people alike. Thieves, especially successful ones, rarely garnered much attention, but Karnstein had a strange habit of returning most of the items she stole and leaving snarky notes to law enforcement. Danny hadn't given Karnstein much thought at the time, except to sigh over diverted funding.

Then she just had to go to the opening reception of her local museum's rare book collection.

The evening had begun smoothly enough, with Danny looking over the parts of the collection on display (perhaps lingering over the first edition of _Pride and Prejudice_ a little longer than necessary) and beginning a passionate discussion about Jane Austen with the head curator. During a fascinating tangent on 21 st century transformative works, the lights flickered. A moment passed. Then it flickered again. No one gave it any mind. On the third flicker, the room plunged into darkness.

When the light returned, one of the glass display cases had been unlocked, signed card taking the place of the display's contents. Danny sighed as people panicked around her. Of fucking course Karnstein would go after—something caught her eye. There! Just the briefest flash of black fabric. She dashed thought the crowd to the roof access stairwell. Giving no heed to the “Employee's Only” sign, she slammed the door open and bolted up the stairs, taking two at a time. By the time she reached the roof, she was out of breath, but she was rewarded by the sight of a short young woman dressed worn, black leather. So that was Karnstein. She seemed preoccupied with an object in her hands.

Danny lunged. Her fingers grazed Karnstein's jacket. Instead of landing on top of Karnstein, Danny fell flat on her face. Karnstein, now facing Danny and a good three feet from where she supposed to be, let out a small laugh as Danny got up and dusted herself off. “Nice try, Agent Orange.”

Danny lunged at Karnstein again, only to do a repeat performance of her previous faceplant. When she got up this time, she noticed the copy of _The Second Jungle Book_ tucked in protective case in Karnstein's hand. “Seriously, you went to all this trouble to steal _that_ all things?”

Karnstein stopped laughing; Danny did not try to lunge at her again. Something about Karnstein's small smile held Danny back. “'Black as the pit and terrible as the night was Bagheera.' Even after all these years, I still find that line beautiful. Though this century has made nights far less dark and terrible.”

“Oh my god,” Danny muttered to herself. “The thief behind my department's slashed budget is a huge nerd.”

She scoffed. “Says the gingersnap who considers time spent with dusty academics a good use of a Friday night. But...” She paused as she moved toward the roof''s edge, never taking her eyes off Danny. “You are certainly much more entertaining than those incompetent boors trying to catch me. Until next time.”

“There won't be a next time you—!” But Karnstein broke into a sprint and jumped to the next rooftop.

When Danny came into the office on Monday, a man on the Karnstein case was waiting for her. Apparently, Karnstein had left a calling card requesting Danny's presence on her next heist.

* * *

They entered the ballroom four minutes until midnight. A few guests had begun to file out, but the party was still going strong. Danny scanned the room, trying to catch a glimpse of a familiar smirk or lock of black hair. “There's no way Karnstein is pretending to be a passenger,” she told Diana and Yue, “so keep your eyes on the serving staff. Diana, guard this door. Yue, take the other. Karnstein has been amping up the dramatics lately, so I'll take center. Got it?”

They nodded.

“Good! Let's go.”

Less a few strides later, her earpiece let out a small chime, signaling an incoming ping. “Officer Danny, I'm getting some weird readouts from the power systems. I think she's about to cut power in the ballroom.”

“Thanks.” She readied her uniform's integrated flashlight. Sure enough, the lights sputtered out a moment later. Captain Lyon started speaking over the ship intercom, but Danny wasn't listening. Where was Karnstein?

“Right here,” a sultry voice whispered into her ear.

“GAAH!” Danny whirled around just as the lights came back on. Sitting on a table that certainly wasn't there before with a box under her arm was one smirking Karnstein, hair slicked back and in a low ponytail.

“You were right about me pretending to be part of the staff, by the way—I refuse to suffer through inane conversations and this century's poor attempts at waltzing if I don't need to. Dancing with you might be worth the suffering but,” she said while patting the box, “these harbingers of doom in gaudy jewelry form won't—”

“No! No I am not letting you monologue today!” Danny charged, crashing into the table. Karnstein didn't have a chance to dodge. They landed on the floor, Danny pinning Karnstein below her. “You're under arrest.”

“Oh my, you've certainly gotten much better at this, Xena. Not that you'll catch me today, but I have to reward noticeable improvement, don't I?” That stupid smirk never left her face.

“What the hell are you talking about Lupin.”

Karnstein leaned up as far as the pin allowed and planted a kiss on Danny's lips. Blood rushed to Danny's face as she tried to formulate some response only to come up with incoherent sputtering. “As much as I love being under you like this Agent Orange, I have places I need to be going.”

With powerful kick, Karnstein sent Danny flying into a group of ogling bystanders. As Danny scrambled back onto her feet (ouch, that was going to leave a bruise), Karnstein grabbed her box and dashed out of the ballroom, dodging all attempts at capture. Danny pinged to the bridge as she followed. “Where's she going?”

“The topside docking port, probably, as that's closest to her ship. However, the Cait Sidhe still hasn't made any attempts to dock.”

“The Cait Sidhe is her only way off this ship, so it'll dock eventually.” Danny pinged Diana and Yue. “We're going to try to flank her at the topside docking port.”

“On her heels!” Yue pinged back.

“Currently on the starboard pathway.” replied Diana.

“Good. I'll take bow and center.”

No passengers lingered in the halls as Danny ran through them, bounding over other obstacles like a freerunner. She only slowed down when she reached the elevator. After entering and pressing the button for the top level, she leaned back and took a moment to catch her breath. Her earpiece chimed. “She's not going to the docking port!” the sysadmin yelled.

“Wait what?”

“She just grabbed a propulsion unit from from storage. Shit. She's heading to the maintenance airlock!”

Danny gasped. Karnstein wouldn't dare to do something so monumentally stupid, would she? “Ping Diana and Yue for me.”

Right as the elevator doors open, Danny broke into a dead sprint. Her lungs and bruised side ached, but she had to get there first. _Please be fast enough please be fast enough please be fast enough please_ —she rounded the corner and skidded to a halt just in time to catch a glimpse of Karnstein entering the airlock.

 _Fuck_.

She tried to yank open the door. It didn't budge. “Damn it Karnstein!” She screamed at the door. “Get your sorry ass out of there!” Her only reply was the sound of the outer doors sliding open.

* * *

_Carmilla is so small but weighs so heavy in Danny's arms. She's dead. Of course she's dead. But instead of being dead and missing in the pit, she's dead and in Danny's arms. It's a start. Laura will know what to do._

* * *

Danny woke to the obnoxious ringtone of her phone, the memory of her dream turning into insubstantial haze. She rolled over and picked her phone off the nightstand. Unknown caller. She dismissed the call and buried herself deeper into the blankets. After last night, she deserved to sleep in.

Her phone began to ring again. She didn't bother to shut it off this time. It kept ringing and ringing and ringing until Danny grabbed the phone and threw it onto the sturdy metal wall of the Phobos space station, the occupant of the hotel room next to her be damned. She'd been meaning to buy a new phone anyway.

The ringing stopped and the room's multipurpose display flickered on. “Morning, Xena.”

That voice...Danny bolted up from the blankets. Karnstein was on the screen, lounging on an ornate couch in a bathrobe, drinking from a square, blue mug. “ _You_.”

Karnstein waved, grinning. “Yup, me.”

“I thought you were dead,” Danny said, teeth clenched and hands balled up into fists around the blankets.

“I see the reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated.”

“You jumped out of an airlock without a spacesuit.”

“It's quite surprising how resilient bodies are in the vacuum of space.” She took a sip from her mug. “A human can stay conscious for up to fifteen seconds before passing out and then survive for another minute or two if they don't hold their breath.”

“I thought,” Danny repeated, “you were dead.”

“Aww, Xena, I didn't know you—”

“Don't pull that cliché bullshit on me Karnstein.” She got off the bed and stormed toward the display camera, looking intimidating despite her undershirt and sweatpants. “I don't like what you do and I hate how you've cut into my ability to do my real job, but I don't hate you and I certainly don't want you dead.” The tension drained from her shoulders as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “I'm glad you're okay.”

“Sorry,” she said softly while running her free hand through her hair. “Sometimes I forget you don't—I'm sorry Danny. I won't do it again.”

Danny nodded. “Good.”

“Actually...” Karnstein went back to grinning. “I'm taking a break from this thievery nonsense. Not permanently of course, but I've stolen everything I wanted to steal for the time being.”

Her current train of thought ground to a screeching halt. “Seriously?”

“That's why I called in the first place. Don't celebrate too much Xena, I still have your phone number. Speaking of phones, you're about to get a call.” Danny's phone began to ring from its place on the floor. Karnstein leaned closer to her computer screen and tapped at the keyboard. “Oh, I recognize this number. It's that adorable news blogger from the Curiosity Post.”

“N-no, don't you dare!”

“I'll forward the call to the room speakers and take that as my cue my cue to leave. Bye!”

The screen turned off, but the speakers crackled with the sound of a terrible phone connection. “Hi Danny!”

Danny groaned as she slumped onto the bed, laying her arm across her face. “No, I will not do an interview with you, Laura, unless you talk with the department publicist first! Besides, Karnstein just called me so I need to—”

“Ooh that's a first. Thanks for the information, Danny! Talk to you later.”

Her blush deepened. Why was her tongue always so loose around cute girls?

* * *

Danny meet Laura Hollis a few days after her first encounter with Karnstein. As Danny tried to finish up some last-minute paperwork in the office one early morning, a young woman stopped in front of her desk. “Are you Danny Lawrence?”

She looked up from her work (why did this place still require paper copies of everything?) and nearly dropped her pen at the sight of such a beautiful girl. “Um...y-yeah,” she stammered. “I'm Danny. Uh, do you need something?”

The girl held out her hand, “Hi, I'm Laura Hollis. I work for the Curiosity Post.”

Danny took it, giving a firm shake and noticing the gold band on Laura's finger. Damn it. But the seeing the ring gave her a chance to collect herself. “Nice to meet you, Laura. Ah, Isn't the Curiosity Post based on Mars? What brings you out here to Earth?”

“The media has been in a frenzy over that thief, Karnstein, and Curiosity wanted in, so here I am.” Laura smiled and Danny swore her heart skipped a beat. “I heard you managed to impress the elusive thief so much that she requested you to be part of her case.”

Danny winced, memories of a few nights ago coming to the forefront of her mind. “Sort of?”

“What was she like? Is the media speculation even close to the truth?”

“Well, I thought she was a...uh.” She finally noticed the ancient analog recording device in Laura's hand. She shook her head, trying to dispel the haze of infatuation. “I'm sorry Laura, but I answer your questions right now. There's going to be a press event next week though.”

Laura shrugged as she put the device back in her bag. “It was worth a shot. By the way...” She leaned closer. “Just because I have a ring doesn't mean I'm not available. Clear communication and polyamory are wonderful things.”

“I...um...will keep that in mind,” Danny said, her cool demeanor replaced with furious blushing.

She straightened back up.“It was nice to meet you, Danny. See you next week.”

Once Laura was well out of the office, Danny buried her blushing face in her hands, grateful that no one ever arrived in the office before she did.

* * *

Belmonde Interstellar owned and operate over 50% of all commercial ships across the solar system, and, over a few decades, the company had carved out a reputation as the leader of all things space travel. A reputation that had taken a hit after last night's heist. Which was how Danny found herself in the office of Miss Belmonde herself mere hours after her very interesting morning.

The office was disgustingly opulent, furnished in a style Danny was pretty sure stopped being popular long before the advent of the warp drive. Take the chair she was sitting on: it was made with real, dark wood and lush maroon velvet. Belmonde's office chair used similar materials but was far bigger and had gold detailing. If the point was to make her squirm as she waited for Belmonde, it was working. The creepy paintings didn't help.

The door behind her swung open and Danny jumped to her feet. Belmonde looked nothing like the pictures. Nothing that stored data in qbits could capture Belmonde's overpowering presence. Her smile seemed better suited for an apex predator than a woman. “Please, sit down Danny.”

She did as Belmonde commanded. “Miss Belmonde I—”

“Call me Mattie. We're friends here, are we not?” She opened the cabinet at the rear of her office, pulling out a hotplate, a saucepan, a small whisk, and assorted ingredients in small, glass jars. “Would you like something to drink? I have water, tea and hot chocolate. Or perhaps you'd be interested in something harder?”

“N-no thank you.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself.” From the mini-fridge came a bottle of milk. Danny blinked. Was Belmonde really making hot chocolate for herself? How domestic and intimidating. “I didn't call you here to discuss what happened on the Countess Elizabeth, if that's what you're thinking,” she said as she turned on the hotplate and began whisk in ingredients (what was that deep red liquid Belmonde had suck into the mix?). That was exactly what Danny was thinking. Why else would Belmonde want to talk to her? “You've been granted a week off, in honor of Karnstein's 'retirement', correct?”

“Yes.” Where was Belmonde going with this?

“I have a proposition for you.” She poured the hot chocolate into a white mug with a cartoonish bat painted on the side and turned off the hotplate. Finally, she sat down in her oversized office chair. “Unfortunately, I need to travel to Luna for business and, while I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, I always prefer to have some trained muscle on my side. My competitors enjoy hiring mercenaries and pirates to inconvenience me.”

“You want me to come with you.”

Belmonde took a sip of from her mug and seemed absolutely delighted by the result. “I would pay you, naturally. And it's a free trip back to Earth with first class accommodations. Interested?”

Danny bit the inside of her cheek. Belmonde's offer was good, but it was still Belmonde making the offer. “Let's figure out the details first.”

* * *

_She grabs Mattie's locket and throws it to the ground. It makes a satisfying crunch as she grounds it under her heel. She's not going to die, not today. Or maybe she does because the way Carmilla's voice wavers, the way Laura takes the burden of the blame—it hurts more than her busted ribs._

* * *

Danny hadn't gotten a good night's sleep ever since she boarded the Morgana, Belmonde's personal ship. Something dark and terrible had been trampling through her dreams, but the memory always faded away upon waking. If Belmonde or her crew had noticed, they hadn't said anything to Danny's face. Besides, Danny had gone with less sleep for a longer period of time before and tomorrow they arrive on Luna.

After her first night of bad sleep, Danny started serving as part of the ship's graveyard shift. Working the bridge wasn't part of her area of expertise, but she new enough to keep track of some of the monitors. Tonight, only she and the ship's sysadmin, a man who went by JP, were at the bridge. No incidents had occurred all trip. Perhaps they would get to Luna without any problems.

“Oh dear,” JP mumbled to himself. “Oh dear they finally learned how to mask their ships.”

“JP, what's going on?”

He pressed a red button on his console, causing alarms to wail. “Raiders are boarding, port side.” The ship shook. “And not too elegantly either. I'll direct the guard and close the appropriate inner doors; you go and rouse Miss Matska. She can be a heavy sleeper.”

She nodded, readied her shock baton, and exited the bridge. Once she broke into a run, she realized a problem. Belmonde's room was near the outer port side. The raiders were boarding from the port side. Fuck. Still, she kept running.

The ship shook and a section of the wall ripped wide open. Air rushed out of the opening. Danny regained her footing and tried to run when three hulking figures armed with rifles and dressed in mismatched space suit entered through the breach. Two went down the hall of Mattie's room. The third lumbered toward Danny. Her hands trembled as she gripped her baton tighter. She swung it with all her might! The brute batted it aside and lumbered closer. She was going to die. They reached and grabbed her by the neck. Without a word, they lumbered back toward the breach and tossed her out like a rag doll.

* * *

_A knife slides into her back. Time finally catches up to her, less than a decade after she sold her almost forever to a fairy princess. Old gods creep up from the earth, devouring her. Lightning races through her veins. Sickness turns her body against her. She is always dying._

_But she is always coming back._

* * *

“She'll have nasty sunburn and there might be some lingering but mild decompression sickness stuff, but otherwise she's fine. You guys did great,” a voice said far away from the distance haze of dreams.

“Oh thank Hogwarts.” This voice was familiar and stirred something deep within her heart.

“I'd hardly be LaF's crowning achievement in AI if I couldn't do some medical tasks. I'll call Carmilla off the bridge and send a message to Mattie for you.”

“You're the best Theta.”

Danny forced her eyes open. She was in a small room, lying on a bed that just barely fit her frame. Laura sat by her side. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

Danny manged a small chuckled as she struggled to sit up. “Aching and terrible but okay. What happened?”

“You got thrown into vacuum of space, Xena.” Carmilla leaned in the door frame. “If we hadn't saved your ass you'd be dead.”

“Carm? What are you...?” Danny looked from Carmilla to Laura and back again.

“You're on the Cait Sidhe,” Laura explained. “Our ship.”

A chain laced with a gold ring hung around Carmilla's neck. “She finally stopped with the Karnstein nonsense,” she said, grinning at Laura. “I think that near death experience jostled some memories back into place.”

The pieces clicked into place. “You two were tag-teaming me. And you!” Danny pointed at Laura. “All those time you came into the office—wait is Belmonde okay?”

Carmilla laughed. “My sister can disembowel a man without breaking a sweat. She's fine.”

“And,” a new voice from the speakers said, “Mattie just replied to my message letting me know that she and her crew are fine and she's glad that Danny is alive.”

Danny sighed with relief. “That's one less thing to worry about. Still! You both have a lot of explaining to do!”

“We can do that,” said Laura.

“It's a very long story though,” Carmilla said as she moved from the door frame to sit on the bed. “Think you're up for it?”

“Always.”

As the two girls tried to spin and explanation together despite interruptions and tangents, Danny drifted off to sleep wondering why having both of them so close felt like home.


End file.
